silentstep

Recent Entries

1.) Yes Anakin's fall to the dark side was in large part motivated from a desperation to save Padme no matter the cost, but you really can't discount that he had a very real bond of loyalty and trust towards Palpatine that couldn't just be immediately destroyed even by the revelation that Palpatine was a Sith Lord

2.) (I mean really, there are a hundred reasons behind his fall— and 99% of them are Palpatine's doing— like the way he'd been laying the groundwork for over a decade for Anakin to mistrust Jedi teachings, one of which happens to be that the Dark is never a real solution)

3.) but yeah. Anakin genuinely considered Palpatine his friend. was genuinely loyal to him. genuinely believed Palpatine was a wise leader who knew what was best. couldn't entirely separate out "but he's always been kind to me" from his motivations even when it became apparent that Palpatine must've been manipulating all of them all along

4.) (Anakin Skywalker does not make decisions on principle, he makes them on faith)

5.) He's loyal to his mom, to Palpatine, to Padme, to Ahsoka, to Rex and his men, to Obi-Wan. If he's loyal to causes it's because they're their causes

6.) he has always genuinely believed in benevolent dictatorships

7.) he doesn't want to be in charge of one, he just thinks everyone should trust Padme and Palpatine to make the right decisions and if someone doesn't trust them to, then that person is against them (and how dare they)

8.) seriously I get that it just sounds like I'm sorting him into the "evil" house but I'm still saying I think we should be sorting him into Slytherin more often than I see people doing

remember that time Inda was like "haha look at me all dressed up, I look like a hothouse fan dancer" *waggles hips* and it's like Inda. Inda darling. You are the scariest-looking scarred pirate anyone here has ever seen, but please, continue to imagine that your inherent niceness somehow shows through in your appearance.

the Clone Wars comics were really not for me— I am really not a comics person in the first place, and they didn’t manage to overcome my aversion— but I am definitely here for Mace Windu having apprenticed under an immortal polyamorous Entwife.

a lot of the time I worry that I go overboard reversing the intended sympathetic characters in tolkien— I’m siding with dwarves against elves, obviously, and like, in the Giant Sprawling Hobbit Fic we’re about to leave the Rohirrim (who have been pretty unmitigated jerks) and meet the Dunlendings (who are going to be relatively welcoming). It’s supported— if your question is "who is likely to be friendly towards dwarves," the answer is canonically "not the Rohirrim," but still.

still.

tolkien, you gave me a haughty haradric queen with nine cats who spy on people for her and then you were like "do not take this as indication of her clear awesomeness." like. sir. sir. SHE HAS NINE CATS.

fuck listen I know it’s irrelevant because of course she’s related to someone important and most likely the Skywalker family because this is Star Wars: The Skywalker Family Saga and also like, yes, ok, I did spend my childhood reading fantasy novels, I know what to expect when a mysterious child with mysterious powers is a protagonist and the story very carefully didn’t reveal anything about their family to the audience

(and if you’re not accepting the prequels or their attendant canons into your conception, then fine, that’s one thing, because this is based on prequel-era canon knowledge—)

but, oh, my kingdom for this fandom to acknowledge that FORCE-SENSITIVITY IS NOT JUST STRAIGHTFORWARDLY GENETIC.

for someone who has never actually had to grieve a real loss in their life, I sure do write a lot of stories that pick up right in the immediate aftermath of characters' entire worlds being destroyed around their ears.

listen guys listen to me the greenwood elves absolutely had a yearly tradition where one night the people hunt their ruler through the woods with horse and horn and hound. ruler may or may not literally be wearing antlers for this. it’s all very symbolic and tied to the turning of the year and the forest’s acceptance of the elves’ presence and the ruler’s fitness to dominate it. also they totally wouldn’t actually kill the ruler if the ruler didn’t manage to escape the hunt hahaha! they swear! totally! but for sure everyone would be very uneasy about the kingdom’s fortunes in the coming year and the ruler’s political stability would be pretty shaky and the court would all just. quietly watch. and the ruler had just better make sure they escape better next year. that’s all.

I’m just... really not a fan of taking every single american christmas tradition, painting it blue and silver, and calling it a hanukkah thing. I just saw a picture of “hanukkah gingerbread houses” and it’s just like... that’s. that’s a christmas thing. that is not a hanukkah thing. Hanukkah sweaters and hanukkah wreaths and it all just feels like people are still just trying to tell me I should actually want to be celebrating christmas, and they’re helping me get around all those inconvenient religious limitations that are obviously preventing me from doing so against my will.

listen. no. I don’t want to celebrate christmas. I don’t want to celebrate extremely-thinly-veiled!christmas either. HOW IS THIS SO FUCKING INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

one time back when my parents were first living together/married, my mother woke up in the middle of the night to see my dad reading a book. this was WEIRD, ok, my father never ever ever reads books. and so she was like “wtf, are you reading a book?” and he was like “not really. it’s an airline schedule.” and it was. It was an airline schedule that he had stolen from the Lufthansa check-in counter at the airport when nobody was looking. he’d just snuck back there and taken it. and then used it for bedtime reading. and that’s just about the most quintessential story of my dad I have ever heard. strange & impulsive petty crime + airline schedules being his idea of entertaining reading material.

in my dream my family had this truly enormous shaggy brown dog with undocked ears/tail, it was adorable and sweet and gentle and I loved it, but somehow everyone in this dream-world incl. me thought that it was a bison. that was just what bison were in this dream, I guess. big soulful brown dogs.

also the rabbis in town were having a debate over whether I should be allowed to fly to services on the sabbath. it was eventually concluded that it was no different from walking, if flying was simply an ability that I had naturally. which it was. which was good, because the ground was teeming with snakes and lizards and I didn’t want to step on any.

there was a mechitza at this dream-synagogue. the women’s side was on the roof. it was pretty nice though because we could watch the tide come in.

work of media: welcome to fantasy Europe! look at all our great characters! do you want to pick a favorite?me: where are your Jewish analogueswork: oh, uh, over here, but listen, they’re not the protagonists—me: is one of them fighting ferociously and unrelentingly on their behalfwork: well, yes, but listen, it’s not a good thing—me: PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL, ABOVE ALL CRITICISM

speaking of Classic Literature, I’d never actually read Hills Like White Elephants, though I’d had it described for me by my 12th grade literature teacher

having now read it, and subsequently read some commentary on it, I am SO GLAD that I waited until I’d encountered Malory Ortberg’s Women In Western Art History series, because wow commentators the voice I heard in my head whenever the woman spoke emphatically does not sound like the voice you apparently heard in your head at same.